If Your Time Is Short
- A popular Facebook post claimed that "the Supreme Court ruled today NO VOTING BY MAIL !!!"
- That's not what happened. In reality, the high court rejected an expansion of mail-in voting in Texas in late June. It also voted down an effort to make the practice easier in three counties in Alabama in early July.
- But those rulings in no way take away existing rights to vote-by-mail in dozens of states across the nation.
Ruling Statement: 鈥淭he Supreme Court ruled today NO VOTING BY MAIL !!!鈥�
-- June 26, 2020
Election officials in California and across the nation are gearing up to , they say to offer the public a safe way to vote amid the pandemic.
But as President Trump and some of his supporters continue to rail against the decades-old practice, more claims are popping up on social media either questioning vote-by-mail鈥檚 legitimacy or cheering on restrictions to it.
This popular Facebook post is one example:
鈥淚f you haven鈥檛 already heard, the Supreme Court ruled today NO VOTING BY MAIL !!!鈥�
The post was flagged as part of Facebook鈥檚 efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about PolitiFact California鈥檚 with Facebook). While this post was first shared weeks ago, it had been viewed 140,000 times over the past 24 hours, according to Facebook.
We decided to check it out.
Background On Vote-By-Mail
California and many other states are getting ready for a surge of absentee voting, as vote-by-mail was previously called in the state.
In May, Gov. Gavin Newsom to all in the state. Newsom鈥檚 order was codified in June when passed by the Legislature.
There鈥檚 a patchwork of voting methods across the nation.
Just five states regularly conduct universal vote-by-mail elections: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington. In those states, ballots are automatically sent to all registered voters, who then fill them out and mail them back or drop them off with election officials. Twelve states allow counties to opt-in to mail-voting or allow it for certain elections, but not others.
Voters in another 29 states have the option to vote-by-mail in federal elections, but must request such a ballot, according to an .
In California, voters have used mail ballots since 1962 and they鈥檝e become increasingly popular: The majority of ballots cast in each of the past four general elections and eight primaries were by mail, according to the Secretary of State鈥檚 Office .
Did The Supreme Court Really Strike Down Voting By Mail?
The Facebook post gives the impression that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the entire practice of vote-by-mail. But that is light years from what happened.
In reality, the high court on June 26, the same day the post appeared, to expand mail-in voting for that state only. The ruling had no effect on vote-by-mail rules in other states across the nation, nor did it end the right in Texas.
Texas already allows vote-by-mail for those 65 and older, voters who are sick or have a physical condition that prevents them from traveling to the polls and others who are absent from their county, .
The Facebook user who made the original post appears to be from Texas. It is possible he intended his post to mean that the Supreme Court had eliminated or curtailed vote-by-mail in that state alone, but he provided no context. And, again, the court鈥檚 ruling does not mean there鈥檚 鈥渘o voting by mail鈥� in Texas or anywhere else.
About a week after the post was published, the Supreme Court issued a separate ruling on mail-in voting in Alabama. It temporarily a lower court's decision that, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, would have made it easier for residents of three Alabama counties to vote by absentee ballot in July 14 primary runoff elections, according to an .
But, again, that ruling came after the post was published, and has no bearing on existing rights to vote-by-mail in Alabama or other states.
Our ruling
A Facebook post suggested the U.S. Supreme Court had struck down voting by mail nationwide.
That鈥檚 far from the truth. The high court rejected an expansion of mail-in voting in Texas in late June. It also voted down an effort to make the practice easier in three counties in Alabama in early July.
But those rulings in no way take away existing rights to vote-by-mail in dozens of states across the nation.
We rate the claim False.
FALSE 鈥� The statement is not accurate.
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